Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 185

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 185

The wine bottle was nearly empty, and Do Pyeong-su had caught three more pigeons. With so many pigeon roosts under the eaves of the Manghon Pavilion, it had been easy work.
“Don’t you smell something burning?”
“I roasted the pigeon, didn’t I?”
“It smells like wood burning, not feathers and meat. And it’s getting brighter outside, too…”
Eun Bi-yeon leaned her head out the window and looked down. Through the third-floor opening, she could see flickering flames.
“I think there’s a fire on the third floor.”
“Is that so? No wonder it’s gotten warmer.”
Do Pyeong-su filled two more cups and shook the bottle.
“This is the last one.”
“Should’ve brought another bottle.”
“A pity, but there’s nothing for it.”
They gave the fire at the Manghon Pavilion no thought whatsoever. They had no fear of burning to death, nor any reason to regret if the building burned.
“Ahh! Even though I made it myself, the Oseong Wine truly is… wait.”
“What?”
“The fire here—it must be because of me, isn’t it?”
“It probably is. A spark from roasting the pigeon must have caught somewhere.”
“If my senior finds out I burned this place, I’ll be in for it.”
“How would the lord ever know?”
“Have you ever seen a secret kept at the Oseong Jang-won?”
Secrets at the Oseong Jang-won never lasted—it was only a matter of time.
Do Pyeong-su shot to his feet.
“I have to put out the fire.”
Since they’d finished their wine, leaving this place held no great regret, so Eun Bi-yeon rose as well.
“I’ll handle it.”
“You?”
“With my Ice Technique, this pittance of a fire is nothing.”
They descended to the third floor. The flames at the Manghon Pavilion had grown large enough to be seen clearly from outside, and the lower levels were in uproar.
“Put it out quickly and let’s go.”
The fire was raging violently up two walls of the third floor, burning with searing heat and billowing smoke that rebounded against their protective energy. Eun Bi-yeon drew upon her martial force, and a cold mist rose up enough to push the flames back.
She raised her martial force further, and a bitter chill emanated from her body.
She unleashed her Palm Technique toward the burning wall. Her calculation was simple: the cold would extinguish the flames in an instant.
Boom!
But calculations don’t always play out as expected. The cold did snuff out that section of fire.
Yet the sparks scattered in all directions, raining down and up to catch on other floors.
“This isn’t right.”
Eun Bi-yeon drew more heavily on her martial force and expanded the range of her technique. Her new thought was to completely extinguish the major fire on the third floor first.
Crash!
Snap-crack!
A wall exploded outward, and three pillars—one burning, two intact—shattered at once.
“The fire’s spreading to the first floor and this one!”
“Look! The fifth floor is burning too!”
The fire she’d meant to extinguish had instead consumed the entire Manghon Pavilion. Unless one possessed the ability to summon rain, any hope of putting it out was gone.
“We should run?”
At Do Pyeong-su’s words, Eun Bi-yeon nodded. People had gathered because of the fire, but none of them noticed the two slipping away into the chaos.
Or rather, only one person noticed.
“We shouldn’t cause trouble like this. Ugh… I can’t help it.”
Gal Ma-pyeong, who had resolved to rest at the inn, ultimately found himself following Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon toward the Manghon Pavilion.
The two figures heading toward the pavilion looked no different from any other pair of lovers.
That image held until they vanished into the second floor of the pavilion, and he allowed himself some relief. These two changed their minds as often as soup boiled, but at least tonight seemed like it would pass without incident.
But if the Bloodwind Four Lions were anything, they were people who defied all common sense, and Gal Ma-pyeong’s relief came far too soon.
As he returned to the inn and was preparing to turn in early, he heard shouts from outside.
“The Manghon Pavilion’s on fire!”
The moment those words reached his ears, Gal Ma-pyeong bolted from the inn and ran toward the pavilion. And there he saw two figures shoot out from the third floor like arrows.
“Good heavens! This is a disaster!”
Gal Ma-pyeong slipped through the crowd and rushed toward Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon, who had melted naturally into the throng.
“Master! Mistress!”
The two of them spun around, startled by his cry.
“Oh? Has my disciple arrived?”
Rather than his name, Do Pyeong-su addressed him affectionately as “disciple.”
“What’s happened?”
Do Pyeong-su spoke while watching the Manghon Pavilion burn steadily.
“Well, thank goodness we got out well before the fire really took hold—we nearly had a disaster on our hands. It was close, wasn’t it, Bi-yeon?”
“Y-yes, that’s right. It really was, Do Pyeong-su.”
Gal Ma-pyeong lowered his voice as much as he could because of the people around them, even if their story was a lie.
“I saw both of you making your escape from the third floor just now!”
“You saw? You really saw?”
“How on earth did you set the Manghon Pavilion on fire?”
Gal Ma-pyeong was certain that Do Pyeong-su had started it.
“Not on purpose—a spark flew while we were roasting a pigeon. It’s fine. No one saw us.”
“Witnesses aren’t the problem! The problem is you set fire to the Manghon Pavilion, which the people of Liaoning Province treat like a sacred shrine!”
Eun Bi-yeon spoke up.
“It’s just a wooden building.”
Then came a thunderous crack, and the Manghon Pavilion began to tilt.
Eun Bi-yeon had deployed her Ice Technique, and the weakened third floor was collapsing now like a tree struck by an axe.
“So it’s not just a wooden building anymore.”
When the Manghon Pavilion—which rose to a height of fifty zhang—fell, it would crush dozens of houses beneath it.
“Run! The Manghon Pavilion is collapsing!”
The people who had gathered to extinguish the fire scattered in panic.
“Should we leave too?”
When Do Pyeong-su asked casually, Gal Ma-pyeong shouted in alarm.
“We have to save the people! What will happen when the burning pavilion buries the houses?”
“True. I don’t know who set the fire, but if people die, he’ll be furious.”
That was a situation both Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon dreaded.
“It looks like it’s going to fall to the east! Let’s save the people there first!”
Some who had gone to bed early would not know what was happening, and there would be elderly and infants unable to move quickly.
The burning pavilion tilted further with each passing moment. The three moved swiftly.
“Fire! Fire!”
Shouts erupted from all directions, and people poured from their houses like startled ants.
The three rushed into the houses on the eastern side. They did not need to call out to ask if anyone was there—they could sense breathing with their martial perception.
When Gal Ma-pyeong entered the main room, he found a boy struggling to carry his grandmother.
“Come here.”
Gal Ma-pyeong tucked the boy and the grandmother under his arms and launched himself into the air, setting them down as far as possible from the burning pavilion before immediately darting into another house.
Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon were also busily rescuing people. While a burning house could be dealt with, neither of them had confidence they could face the fury that would follow from Geom U-bin if anyone died, so they moved with desperate urgency.
Just as the three had rescued most of the people within the pavilion’s reach, its tilt suddenly accelerated.
Emitting a sound like the death cry of some great beast, the burning Manghon Pavilion slowly toppled.
Then came a deafening crash as it buried the houses. The destruction did not end with those crushed beneath it.
Flaming debris flew at least seventy zhang through the air, setting fire to houses far in the distance.
A third of Shenyang’s city streets had become an inferno.
“Master! Mistress! Let’s save the people first!”
They moved desperately. Even with all their martial arts, saving ten people was harder than letting a hundred die.
Rescuing people from burning houses was far more difficult than they’d imagined. Only these three possessed the martial ability to save lives; the rest of the city’s people could only scramble to extinguish the flames, powerless to rescue anyone.
By dawn, the worst of the fire was contained, and Gal Ma-pyeong was utterly exhausted. He realized for the first time that there were tasks harder than channeling Lightness Technique at full power.
Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon descended before him as he sat slumped against a wall.
‘Damn.’
The curse escaped his lips unbidden—because Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon showed no sign of fatigue whatsoever. Not a speck of ash clung to their clothes.
“It seems we’ve rescued everyone.”
“So we have.”
Gal Ma-pyeong surveyed the city streets wreathed in smoke. A third of Shenyang appeared to have suffered damage from the fire.
‘I never should have sent those two to the Manghon Pavilion.’
He felt foolish for the regret that kept rising within him. All around, people rushed about frantically or sat bewildered and weeping.
It was entirely because of the fire Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon had set. Yet there was not a trace of guilty conscience on their faces.
‘What can you expect from the Bloodwind Four Lions and the Ice Princess?’
Had Gal Ma-pyeong still been the Gang Seo Samak of old, he would have dismissed such a thing as conscience without a second thought.
But now, knowing it was he who had sent Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon to the Manghon Pavilion, his chest ached with each stabbing reminder.
“Ma-pyeong.”
At Do Pyeong-su’s call, Gal Ma-pyeong lifted his head.
“With the money we have now, we won’t be able to compensate for all this damage, will we?”
“Not even close.”
Do Pyeong-su drew a thin breath.
“People have suffered losses. We ought to make it right.”
That single statement fell outside Gal Ma-pyeong’s expectations.
“Write to Oseong Jang-won and tell them to provide adequate compensation to those who’ve been harmed.”
“Sir? But then your master will learn that you burned down the streets of Shenyang…”
“She’ll find out regardless. Since she’ll know whether I tell her or not, it’s better to take the beating sooner rather than later.”
“You’re a good person, older brother.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Those people who lost their homes to the fire—they’re pitiful, aren’t they? Though admittedly, it is your fault.”
“I don’t find them pitiful at all.”
Then why are you offering compensation?”
“Because doing so might soften the scolding I’ll get from my senior.”
Gal Ma-pyeong, who had been moved by Do Pyeong-su’s consideration, nodded in agreement nonetheless.
“Besides, it would be faster if I went myself. If we sent these people all the way to Hangju to collect the funds, it could take months.”
“You’re going all the way to Hangju?”
“No. The Oseong Merchant Association has a branch in Beijing. I can work out the funds there.”
As Gal Ma-pyeong rose to his feet, he muttered to himself, “I have no idea how much money we’re going to need.”
To calculate the exact damages, they would need to stay for several days, but lingering in Shenyang that long was impossible.
“Oh, my! Our saviors are here!”
Two women, each carrying a small child, approached and offered deep bows.
“We are so grateful that you saved our lives!”
“Without you, my child and I would have surely perished in those flames!”
Flustered, Gal Ma-pyeong waved his hands dismissively.
“No, no. We simply did what was necessary.”
These two women were only the beginning. Everyone in the city knew that Murim masters had saved hundreds of people from those savage flames.
Though their identities remained unknown, word of where they were staying had spread, and crowds began to gather.
The area became packed not only with those who had been rescued, but with throngs of people eager to lay eyes on the knight-errants.
With each expression of gratitude, the wound in Gal Ma-pyeong’s conscience deepened. It was he and Do Pyeong-su who had set the fire, yet here he stood receiving thanks from its victims.
Each time he demurred, he only drew more praise for his humility.
He could hardly confess the truth—that it was these two who had started the blaze.
An old man with white hair stepped forward and bowed, just as the others had done.
“As the chairman of the merchant council here in Shenyang, I offer my deepest gratitude.”
“We extend our sincere condolences on this unfortunate tragedy.”
Gal Ma-pyeong uttered the most dignified words of his life. His conscience pricked, his tongue turned gentle.
“Are there any who were injured or killed?”
Even masters might not have been able to save everyone.
“Fortunately, it appears you knights-errant have rescued everyone. There are a few with minor burns and contusions, but as far as we can tell, there have been no deaths or serious injuries. This is entirely thanks to you three.”
It was a blessing amid the calamity.
“What might the damages amount to?”
“How could anyone say for certain at this moment?”
“Still, couldn’t we make a rough estimate? If we count the houses that burned…”
The old man, gazing out at the city streets still smoking faintly, spoke.
“From what I can see, roughly five hundred buildings—homes and storefronts combined—have burned. But properties vary in value, and for merchants’ stalls especially, goods worth can be wildly different, making predictions difficult. I’d estimate the damage at not less than fifty thousand taels. Shenyang will have hard times ahead.”
Do Pyeong-su spoke abruptly.
“Fifty thousand taels? That’s nothing.”
“Pardon?”
“Ma-pyeong.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Make sure those who’ve suffered are provided for generously. Don’t hold back.”
“Understood.”
“We’re exhausted. We’ll go rest at the inn.”
As the one responsible for the fire was being treated as a savior, even Do Pyeong-su found the situation unbearable.
Fortunately, the inn where they were staying had escaped the flames. Once the two had departed, Gal Ma-pyeong, left alone, felt even more at a loss.
“We should at least know your honored names.”
“We had no intention of making our names known, so please think nothing of it.”
‘Here I am, playing the knight-errant when it’s not written in my fate. Damn it all.’
“How could we who’ve received such help be so ungrateful as not to know our benefactors’ names?”
“Should there be a reward, wouldn’t we receive it in the afterlife? Ha!”
‘Now he’s playing the holy man. If there’s a heaven and hell, he’s headed straight for the latter. Damn it all.’
As he kept refusing their requests to reveal his identity and tried to slip away, a familiar voice cut through the commotion.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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